Professor Arc

Chapter 44

To say his sister's had taken the news well would be an exaggeration at best and an outright lie at worst. He'd left soon after the news dropped that morning, when he'd seen their open mouths and wide-eyed expressions. In truth he'd only stopped by to make sure his mom and dad went ahead with their side of the bargain, but he needn't have worried there. Reluctant and angry as they were, they'd both made sure the girls knew they weren't to reveal anything incriminating about his past. No doubt they'd still be dealing with the outbursts, questions and protests – but he had a morning meeting to get to, and that had proven a hand excuse.

Even as he walked through the halls, however, the relief he'd expected to feel was curiously absent.

Jaune sighed and pushed on towards the staff conference room. He'd been pleased to beat Nicholas, sure... and there had been the initial joy and relief from not being dragged away from Beacon, but it had soon faded and the fear had returned.

His family represented only the first of many problems, and although he'd managed to prevent the disaster there, it didn't change the fact that the truth was catching up fast. I'm in too deep to back out now though. Even if he could, he wasn't sure he would have taken that choice.

Instead, he pushed open the door to the conference room and strode inside.

The room was already half-full when he entered, and Jaune sat down on one of the seats by the long conference table and nodded at Peter beside him. The other members of staff, including Cinder and Winter, took their own nearby. At the head of the table Ozpin sat with a mug of coffee in hand, the imposing form of General Ironwood stood beside him. There was a seat for him too, but the man ignored it.

"Thank you for coming," Ozpin said once they'd all arrived and taken their seats. "I'm sure we've all realized that there's only two days until the opening ceremony for the Vytal Festival. Fortunately, our capable colleagues were able to submit their proposals to me on time." There was a pause as the headmaster nodded towards the two of them. Jaune waved one hand weakly, while Peter might have shouted something they all ignored. "Moving on, I thought it best to share some of the proposals here, just to make sure we're all on the same page." Ozpin pressed a button on the desk before him, and the screen behind him flickered to life.

Jaune leaned in towards Peter. "When did you submit it?" he asked. "I thought we were going to look through it together and make sure Team RWBY didn't add anything silly."

"I thought you'd already done that," Peter hissed back.

"What? No, I thought you had..."

The two shared a long look before, as one, their faces swiveled back to the screen. Well... it couldn't be too bad, right? They were all perfectly responsible girls, and the two of them had been watching over them while they worked. Well, Jaune hadn't... he'd been too busy lost in thoughts about Roman and everything else. But Peter had, right?

The first slide came onto the screen, and Jaune instantly winced when he saw the pink, sparkly and messy scrawl across the cover.

'AWESOME OPENING CEREMONEY' it said, with the final E crossed out to correct the spelling mistake.

Jaune's dignity, which honestly he'd thought would have fled long ago, died an ugly death.

Ozpin coughed and stood up beside Ironwood. He used his cane to point at the screen as the cover was replaced by the maps for facilities the girls had created. "As you can see," Ozpin said, "The stalls and shops have been split into segmented areas to reduce congestion. The food court remains separated from the commercial district, and the carnival and activities sector is to the west wing."

Thank god for Weiss, Jaune sighed. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

"Ozpin," Ironwood interrupted the man before he could go on. "While I agree the layout is an efficient one, I do have to question the inclusion of some of these... entertainment venues."